'The Dance of Reality,' by Alejandro Jodorowsky: self-indulgent

Updated 8:42 am, Friday, May 30, 2014

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Alejandro Jodorowsky makes several cameos in this autobiographical film, and he embraces and tries to console his younger self, played by Jeremias Herskovits in "The Dance of Reality," Jodorowsky's first film in 23 years. less

Alejandro Jodorowsky makes several cameos in this autobiographical film, and he embraces and tries to console his younger self, played by Jeremias Herskovits in "The Dance of Reality," Jodorowsky's first film ... more

Photo: Courtesy Of ABKCO La Danza, LLC

'The Dance of Reality,' by Alejandro Jodorowsky: self-indulgent

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As they age, many artistic enfants terribles seem to lose their way, or burn out, or mellow out. I'd like to think that the last applies to Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky, who beginning in 1970 directed some notable works of extreme cinema ("El Topo," "The Holy Mountain"), but hasn't released a new film in 23 years.

"The Dance of Reality," his latest picture, has some of the subversive, surreal imagery, bloody violence, nudity and general sense of running amok of his long-ago efforts. Now 85, the filmmaker has produced a more tempered work than we might have expected, one laced with nostalgia and even, I'm sorry to say, something akin to self-pity.

It's an autobiographical story, a fantasia about Jodorowsky's childhood in a small Chilean town. The boy (Jeremias Herskovits) is pummeled by his father, an authoritarian monster who admires Stalin, and indulged by his zaftig mother (Pamela Flores), who sings her lines in operatic style. In a classic Jodorowsky twist - he loves playing Freudian games - the father is portrayed by the director's son, Brontis, who appeared as a youngster in "El Topo."

There are two main threads. In one, the father, who considers the boy effeminate, tries to toughen him up by forcing him to undertake a series of increasingly absurd macho tasks. The director makes several cameos, in which he embraces and tries to console his younger self, introducing a jarring maudlin tone.

The other string follows the father through a series of events - including involvement in a political assassination plot - that humble him and enlighten him as to the error of his patriarchal ways.

Some bits are Felliniesque (not in the good sense) and others seem like reversions to the early Jodorowsky, such as an uprising of shirtless amputees, who, for good measure, are beaten down by the cops. Some viewers may not appreciate that sequence, nor others involving genital torture and on-camera urination. But to each his own.

Not all the film is squirm-inducing. There are a few images suggestive of the best of cinematic surrealism (Buñuel), and a handful of moving sequences, such as when the father, who's been a die-hard atheist, weeps in a church. And at times a certain sweetness is evident, despite the provocative images.

But the overall effect is self-indulgent. It's a shame because, in the recent documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune," about the director's efforts to film Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic, Jodorowsky comes across as amiable and involved, quite passionate about the revolutionary possibilities of movies.

"The Dance of Reality" may not succeed, but it may hold some interest to cinephiles as a relic of a kind of extravagant, overheated personal cinema that doesn't exist anymore.

Note: This film is not rated, but has content not suitable for children.

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